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WiMAX Base Station Selection

Its Critical Role in WiMAX Solution Deployment

Service providers share a number of key challenges, including predicting when a technology is ready to move from potential opportunity to generating significant revenue. With open standards, low cost of acquisition, flexibility, and consumer demand, the time for WiMAX is now. But in order to deploy the WiMAX solution that best fits your business model, strategy, and operations, operators must understand the critical role of the WiMAX base station.

Executive Summary

The WiMAX base station is one of the most critical elements in the infrastructure solution set. Choosing a base station on cost alone can negatively impact coverage, total cost of ownership, and most importantly, the customer experience. Lets first consider cost. The number of WiMAX base stations determines the number of sites required and each additional site exponentially increases the total cost of ownership (TCO). Each additional site not only requires another base station, it also increases the need for additional site preparation and acquisition costs, installation and integration, cabling, careful selection of backhaul, and site maintenance. While the WiMAX base station cost is typically less than 10 percent of TCO, without careful consideration, the base station can significantly increase OPEX, which can be up to 80 percent of TCO. Now lets consider the customer experience. When a user is mobile, unless a truly seamless, transparent hand-over can be achieved from base station to base station, the customer will experience a lost connection. This negatively impacts the end user experience and puts the operator at competitive risk. This paper provides insight on critical selection factors of WiMAX base station and helps operators choose the right equipment for their needs. Selection factors are considered in four categories: 1. Performance 2. Innovative Design 3. Flexible Portfolio 4. Global Leadership

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High Receive Sensitivity Low Receive Sensitivity

50% Fewer Sites 35% Greater Coverage 16% Higher Radius 30% Lower TCO Figure1: Coverage difference with 3dB Receive Sensitivity Advantage Smaller Coverage

Receive Sensitivity: 3dB advantage relative site coverage

Defining True High Performance

WiMAX provides a cost effective opportunity to quickly build coverage to support broadband services. However, a low performance base station will significantly increase OPEX as the network life cycle changes occur. To take full advantage of the broadband services opportunity and ensure a rich end user experience, operators need to deploy high performance WiMAX base stations. High performance is a complex set of characteristics that involves several factors. A common misconception is that higher power base station has higher performance; often, that is not the case. A high power base station in many environments can introduce higher interference and reduce performance. To ensure true high performance, the base station and devices must: Extend connectivity range Improve mobile performance Ensure strong connection Prioritize subscriber base. receive that signal. This requires operators to install more base stations in order to cover that deficiency, which increases cost as well as operational complexity. A WiMAX base station with 3dB higher receive sensitivity may require half as many sites, as compared to a base station that has lower receive sensitivity, resulting in 30 percent lower TCO. Base stations with higher receive sensitivity extend connectivity range with the following advantages: Larger coverage radius per cell site allows the operator to service more subscribers, thereby achieving higher revenue. The larger area served by higher order modulation provides high throughput. This enables transmission of larger amounts of data, ensuring a rich end user experience, greater customer satisfaction, word of mouth referrals, faster market penetration and faster ROI. Using fewer base sites decreases the initial investment, operating expense and TCO, and increases profit. Deeper indoor penetration provides easy access to indoor subscribers, again resulting in higher subscriber penetration and faster ROI

Lets discuss each of these critical characteristics and why they are so important to creating a truly high performance WiMAX base station. (For more information on device performance, Motorolas white paper Optimizing Your WiMAX Device Investment can be found at www.motorola.com/wimax).

Improve mobile performance

Todays highly productive mobile workforce and consumers have become used to a rich application experience delivered over cable, DSL or corporate broadband. However, application performance, such as voice quality and streaming video, can deliver a poor user experience if slow handover occurs during the session between the base stations. A handover between base stations can happen when the subscriber is mobile, and even when subscriber is at a fixed location. Thats where intelligent mobility comes in.

Extend connectivity range

Operators install base stations on towers or atop buildings to reduce interference and let the signal transmit farther, extending the range. However, user devices dont have the high transmit power of a base station and that is why high receive sensitivity is so critical. Receive sensitivity defines how well a base station can hear a device transmitting from a certain distance. When a user sends a signal from a device to a base station that doesnt have high receive sensitivity, the base station may be unable to clearly

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Figure 2: Advantage of Tunable Scheduler

Intelligent mobility ensures a seamless handoff from base station to base station. For example, suppose you are commuting to work on a train speeding down the track. Youre talking with someone at your office, logging onto your laptop to check email, or watching CNN. As you travel, the signal from your device hands off between WiMAX base stations, just as a cellular roaming system would. As you move and the signal automatically attaches to a different base station, if that handover is poor or too slow, you will have a bad experience. Youll hear the interference on the line or worse, youll lose the connection.

Prioritize subscriber base

Operators need the ability to develop, change or evolve their business models as the market demands. Some operators may choose to offer a fair-based model that enables all subscribers to get the same level of network connectivity. Others may choose to create a model that segments users into value-based tiers. Although subscribers located closest to the base station always enjoy faster network entry and higher uplink and downlink rates because of the strong signal, subscribers at the edge may experience weaker signals. Base stations with Intelligent mobility enables the base station to figure out a tunable scheduler enable the operator to configure the base station, based on the business model. before the handoff takes place which base station is the most appropriate to pre-send the information If the operators business model depends on at handoff, thus making the transition seamless. providing the same level of high speed internet The intelligent mobility feature allows direct connection to all subscribers, a tunable scheduler communication between neighboring base stations can make better use of base station radio resources. without intervention of another layer. Connection speeds can be slightly decreased closest The intelligent mobility feature makes handovers fast, provides zero packet loss, low latency, and delivers the richest possible experience to the subscriber. to the base station and increased toward the edge of the network, so that the weak signal at the edge is balanced with the stronger signal close to the base station. All subscribers will get the same experience and no one will notice the difference.

However, if an operator wants to segment the business into value-based products (such as Situations change and sites can change, either platinum, gold, silver, and bronze) and give the environmentally or structurally. For example, suppose higher priced customers priority service, the tunable the operator installs a base station as the season is scheduler can tune the base stations to prioritize changing and trees are beginning to lose their leaves. each customer segment accordingly. When spring arrives and the increase in tree foliage creates an obstacle, that obstacle can cause a weak A tunable scheduler is a mechanism in the connection between the user and the base station base station that manages the radio resources that wasnt there during deployment and coverage to most efficiently utilize the air interface. The testing. This can happen with any kind of obstacle, tunable scheduler offers the flexibility to tune the including a metal billboard, a new building, or any operators WiMAX service between maximizing other environmental or physical change that has the capacity toward the center of the network or occurred since the site was installed. That means increasing the users connection speeds toward the that fixed users (those users who are stationary, edge of the network. such as in a home, office, or airport terminal) who once received a strong connection might begin to The benefits of a tunable scheduler to the operator experience disruption. Base stations capable of and subscribers include: fixed mobility allow smooth handover from one base station to another as those environmental conditions Enables flexible business models, depending on operator need change. The high performance base station with fixed mobility continuously communicates with Provides a consistent user experience nearby base stations and transfers weak device throughout the cell site connections to the base station with the best connection, with no disruption to the user. Reduces number of sites and hence reduces cost

Ensure a strong connection

Lowers CAPEX/OPEX which leads to lower TCO.

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Offering Differentiation Through an Innovative Design

WiMAX is a game-changing wireless broadband 4G technology that offers operators the ability to differentiate and remain competitive in evolving marketplaces, develop innovative new services based on changing business models, and provide exciting new applications as they become available. In order to keep up with these challenges and turn them into opportunities, WiMAX operators need an innovative base station design that will meet their environmental requirements, including offering all outdoor base stations without air conditioning, base stations that can be mounted on building walls, and base stations with high capacity. Innovative base station design incorporates light weight infrastructure, ease of deployment, and lower cost.

the network expansion stage, and significantly reduces OPEX. Commonality also enables multiple configurations in different sectors, sites, and markets. For example, operators can choose indoor or outdoor locations for the base station controller. Software configuration can be based on customer segment, location, or a mix of both. And operators can have frequency choices of 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz, or 3.5 GHz.

Flexible Portfolio

Today, the communications market is an everchanging target. Technologies evolve, applications become more sophisticated, and users life styles change. For example, the market will evolve from fixed broadband to mobile broadband. Local subscriptions may move to global roaming. In order to remain competitive, operators must be able to quickly respond to those changes. WiMAX enables companies to think first about the business they want to be in and then use WiMAX to develop the optimum portfolio to service the target markets. Operators deploying WiMAX solutions need the flexibility to quickly and successfully adapt their business models as the market evolves. A flexible portfolio of WiMAX base stations is critical to surviving, and even thriving on, market or competitive changes. A truly flexible base station portfolio requires the following characteristics: Efficient spectrum usage Support multiple configurations Deliver coverage versus capacity Smooth fixed to mobile migration.

Light base station design

Base stations designed for ease of installation, management and operations deliver flexible deployment options, reduce time to deploy, and can lower site costs. A light base station design is the foundation of a plug-and-play solution and consists of a tower top and integrated RF module with fiber connectivity to a compact base controller unit. The design reduces time to deploy because there are only two components to install. The first is the Integrated Light RF module, which is already attached to the antenna. The other component is the base controller unit. The connection between these two is a simple fiber connection rather than heavy coaxial cable and both components can be mounted outside without air conditioning, concrete structures or costly huts. With two simple components with an easy fiber connection, the base stations can be deployed by one person and demand less expertise from the support teams. In short, a light base station design helps operators significantly speed time-torevenue, reduce CAPEX and OPEX, and achieve a faster return on investment.

Efficient spectrum usage

Spectrum might be operators one of the most challenging factors. Spectrum is expensive and allocation is often limited, especially in some markets where operators are only allowed 20 or 30 MHz of spectrum. And when operators take steps to reduce interference from other operators through the use of guard bands, which significantly improve the users experience, spectrum is even further reduced. This is where frequency re-use provides an important advantage. Frequency re-use enables the WiMAX base station to divide its coverage area into multiple sectors to provide higher capacity and coverage. A typical WiMAX base station site might start with limited coverage in one or two sectors to enable instant revenue from enterprise or high spend subscribers. As all operators know, providing subscribers, especially early adopters,

Simplifying deployment and reducing cost

Operators who have deployed a solution consisting of mixed equipment from a multiple vendors find themselves with components that vary between networks. When this happens, deployment becomes more complex, costs begin to rise, and there is little opportunity for leveraging economies of scale. Standardizing components, both hardware and software, greatly reduces the complexity of the network, simplifies the required operational skill set during the initial stage as well as during
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with a rich user experience can result in wordof-mouth referrals, which can then dramatically increase subscriber growth and penetration. In order to maintain high levels of user experience, operators need to support subscriber growth by accommodating capacity increase. While a three-sector base station will require additional site investment and a base station purchase to cover the fourth sector, a flexible portfolio with a four-sector base station should be able to quickly and easily support that capacity increasefrom coverage in one or two sectors to four sectorswith no additional site investment. Flexible frequency reuse of a four-sector base station not only allows low initial investment but also enables up to 40 percent higher throughput and reduces TCO up to 20 percent. The flexibility of the four-sector base station comes from its 1X4X2 (one site, four sectors, and two frequencies) reuse configuration. 1X4X2 reuse means that a single base station site is configured with two frequencies that are reused within four sectors. The 1X4X2 configuration is particularly appealing for operators with limited spectrum. For example, lets say an operator has 30 MHz of spectrum. To protect against interference from another operators spectrum, generally a guard band is used on the boundaries. This means that a 10MHz channel bandwidth will use 5MHz as a guard band on the two boundaries and, as a result, the spectrum will be utilized with two 10 MHZ frequencies reused alternatively in four sectors On the other hand, an operator with a three-sector base station will use 1X3X3 configuration for optimization. 1X3X3 configuration will support one site, three sectors, and three frequencies. With three frequencies, the maximum channel bandwidth can be 7 MHz (5MHz in 2.5GHz band) compared to 10 MHz in 1X4X2 configuration. The throughput of a 7 MHz channel bandwidth is 40 percent lower compared to a 10 MHz channel bandwidth. Hence, with flexible frequency reuse, up to 40 percent higher throughput is achieved. Figure 3 shows a possible scenario of two frequency (F1 and F2) reuse in a four sector base station.
Sectors 2 & 4 Frequency = F2 = 2515MHz Guard Band

Support multiple configurations

Typical WiMAX deployment starts with one carrier, low channel bandwidth and one frequency. Later as the demand increases operators change their deployment plan and configurations to higher channel bandwidth, more carriers, & multiple frequencies in different markets. In short, operators demand base stations that support multiple configurations. If the vendors base station doesnt support multiple bandwidths, multiple frequencies, multiple carriers then operators will need to add equipment from another vendor. Either scenario adds cost and adds operational complexity. Some WiMAX vendors choose to only supply, for example, 2.5 GHz and no other frequency ranges. What this means is that if you want to expand your portfolio, you must purchase multiple vendor equipment, which injects complexity and cost into the solution. A broad portfolio of WiMAX base stations that supports multiple transmit powers, multiple frequencies, multiple carriers, with multiple channel bandwidth gives the option of utilizing multiple configurations. A WiMAX base station that supports multiple configurations will give an operator flexibility of deployment at no cost.

Deliver coverage versus capacity

Depending on what the market demands, operators need the flexibility to deploy coverage or capacity, and then change that configuration when market needs evolve. A flexible portfolio that supports multiple antenna techniques, like Beamforming or MIMO, with various configurations of two, four, or eight antennas, allows operators to tailor their solution to deliver coverage versus capacity and deploy an optimal network in any market on a site by site basis. For example, an operator may deploy a Beamforming solution in a rural environment to achieve higher coverage, while deploying a MIMO solution in a dense urban environment for higher capacity. Each environment and site requires careful planning and focus based on expected subscriber penetration and demand. The rural locations may demand high downlink capacity while dense urban requirement may require high uplink. A flexible portfolio allows operators to choose the required focus. (For more information on MIMO & Beamforming, Motorolas white paper A Practical Guide to WiMAX Antennas can be found at www. motorola.com/wimax).

5MHz

10MHz

10MHz

5MHz

Guard Band

Sectors 1 & 3 Frequency = F1= 2505MHz

Smooth fixed to mobile migration

Some WiMAX vendors offer solutions that can only support fixed subscribers. However, that means as more users begin to demand mobility, operators may have to replace vendors or add additional

Figure 3: 1X4X2 Reuse in 2.5GHz, 30MHz spectrum

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Field Experience In 2007 , Wateen Telecom deployed one of the worlds largest 802.16e WiMAX operations in Pakistan. Wateen faced a challenge common to operators in emerging markets. Unreliable electrical service often created frequent power surges, causing outages and resulting in frequent disconnection/ reconnection of thousands of subscribers at the same time. The WiMAX base station, built with flex modem technology, state of the art network management solution, and deployment features such as redundant power supply and battery backup, allows Wateen to provide continuous availability and high quality of service to subscribers. Field experienced WiMAX vendor understand the unique challenges faced by operators around the world and its WiMAX base stations have been successfully deployed through multiple continents for both large and small operations.

vendors who can enable that smooth migration from fixed to mobile. The 802.16e standards-based WiMAX solution can be deployed either as fixed broadband or mobile broadband. Most operators deploy fixed services and plan to migrate to mobile in the future when their market demands as the market opportunity evolves. The WiMAX base stations deployed with the smooth fixed-tomobile migration path already possess all the capabilities of mobile services. The smooth fixed-to-mobile migration path solution uses various capabilities such as Software Defined Radio (SDR), carrier-class Element Management System (EMS), allowing remote and easy configuration change with integrated billing and operational support system. These capabilities not only make the migration very fast, they also reduce the additional CAPEX required during the fixed to mobile migration.

Rigorous commitment to quality

A highly available WiMAX base station with 99.995 to 99.999 availability guarantees less than two to 20 minutes of outage per year, ensuring greater usage and higher revenue. Availability increases even further with features such as redundant connection from RF module to controller, redundant controller cards, redundant power supply, and high mean time between failure (MTBF). An excellent customer experience requires that the WiMAX system maintain a high level of quality and availability. The WiMAX Base station is comprised of hardware and software and it delivers high quality if it is put through strict quality processes such as Six Sigma, M-Gate, and SEI Level 5 testing. For example, one of the highly sophisticated quality methodologies employed is the First Office Application (FOA) step, which tests each system release in an outdoor uncontrolled environment with hundreds of testers in multiple frequencies. This process removes the most hard-tofind faults and failures before shipment.

Global Leadership

Todays WiMAX operator faces growing competition from other 4G operators. Finding a way to innovate and create a strong, differentiating brand is critical to survival. WiMAX operators who partner with a global leader can leverage that vendors expertise, experience, longevity, and stability, and trust that the WiMAX solution they deploy will provide the quality, availability, and cost effective solution they need. Global leadership includes commitment to 802.16e standard, extensive field experience and rigorous commitment to quality.

Conclusion

Commitment to the 802.16e standard

WiMAX base stations have evolved from decades of designing and manufacturing mission-critical communications systems for customers in all industries. With a strong belief in the value of WiMAX technology, the WiMAX forum and its strong 500 plus members are helping to develop the 802.16e standard, and driving the certification program. (For more information on WiMAX standards and interoperability, Motorolas white paper WiMAX Interoperability in an Open Ecosystem can be found at www.motorola.com/wimax). Choose a WiMAX vendor with certification and multiple awards for its 802.16e end-to-end portfolio, including devices, base stations, access points, system core, and deployment, and which is recognized in the industry for its public demonstration of commitment to the 802.16e standard.

Choosing the right base station for your WiMAX deployment is one of the most critical elements of an end-to-end WiMAX solution. A true high performance base station with innovative design and a flexible portfolio will enable operators to customize their business models, increase capacity, reduce costs, and speed time to revenue through a differentiated customer experience. The right WiMAX base station uniquely fits in the end-to-end WiMAX solution, providing base station support of network connections such as VPNs (Virtual Private Network), multicast broadcast solutions, end-to-end QoS (Quality of Service), and common operations and management platform. Carrier class WiMAX base stations with high quality, reliability, and availability are critical for long term use, low OPEX, and subscriber satisfaction that reduces churn, increases loyal customer base, and increases word of mouth referrals-in turn increases growth. For more information on Motorolas WiMAX base station portfolio, visit www.motorola.com/wimax.

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Motorola, Inc. 1303 E. Algonquin Road Schaumburg, Illinois 60196 www.motorola.com

MOTOROLA and the Stylized M Logo are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. All other product or service names are the property of their registered owners. Motorola, Inc. 2008. All rights reserved. 12/08